* TORAH WEEKLY *
Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion
Parshat Ki Tavo
For the week ending 16 Elul 5760 / 15 & 16 September 2000
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OVERVIEW
When Bnei Yisrael dwell in the Land of Israel, its first fruits are to
be taken to the Temple and given to the kohen in a ceremony expressing
recognition that it is Hashem who guides Jewish history throughout all
ages. This passage forms one of the central parts of the Haggadah
that we read at the Passover Seder. On the last day of Pesach of the
fourth and seventh years of the seven-year shemita cycle, a person
must recite a disclosure stating that he has indeed distributed the
tithes to the appropriate people in the prescribed manner. With this
mitzvah, Moshe concludes the commandments that Hashem has told him to
give to the Jewish People. Moshe exhorts them to walk in Hashem's
ways, because they are set aside as a treasured people to Hashem.
When Bnei Yisrael cross the Jordan River they are to make a new
commitment to the Torah. Huge stones are to be erected and the Torah
is to be written on them in the world's seventy primary languages, and
they are to be covered over with a thin layer of plaster. Half the
tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim and half on Mount Eval, and the
levi'im will stand in a valley in between the two mountains. There
the levi'im will recite 12 commandments and all the people will answer
"amen" to the blessings and the curses. Moshe then details the
blessings that will be bestowed upon Bnei Yisrael. These blessings
are both physical and spiritual. However if the Jewish People do not
keep the Torah, Moshe details a chilling picture of destruction,
resulting in exile and wandering among the nations.
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INSIGHTS
ON BEING A MENSCH
"You shall be glad with all the goodness that Hashem, your G-d, has
given you and your household -- you and the levite and the convert in
your midst." (26:11)
Being a "mensch" is one of those un-translatable Yiddish phrases which
defines what it means to be Jewish.
A few years ago, an El Al flight to London was carrying a young child
in need of an urgent and critical operation. Apart from the child's
medical problem, there was another problem -- money. The parents had
barely enough to cover the cost of the flight to London which involved
the purchase of a whole row of seats to accommodate the stricken child
and his medical support systems.
During the flight a religious Jew who was traveling in first class
came to the back of the plane to pray with a minyan. On his way back
to his seat he went over to the father of the child and asked how the
child was doing. In the course of the conversation the father
mentioned that he had no idea how he was going to be able to cover the
cost of the operation. He was already way over his head in debt with
the medical expenses that he had already incurred. He would need
nothing short of a small miracle.
Without further ado, the man walked back to the first class cabin,
pulled out his hat and proceeded to tour the aisles of the first class
cabin collecting for the operation. In approximately ten minutes his
hat contained checks to the value of some $100,000 -- sufficient for
both the operation and the flights and all the medical expenses to
date.
If Jews excel at anything, it's tzedaka. Charity.
Actually, "charity" is not the correct word. Rabbi Uziel Milevsky,
zatzal, who was one of Ohr Somayach's great teachers, used to say that
national characteristics are evidenced in the language of that nation.
In English, we say "my duty calls." The equivalent expression in
Hebrew would be -- "I need to acquit myself of my obligation." The
Jew doesn't see his duty as something that "calls" to him, something
external, and which he elects to do out of a higher moral sense.
Rather he sees the very fact of his existence as obligating him -- "I
exist, therefore I am obligated."
So too, there is no separate word in Hebrew for charity. What the
rest of the world calls charity, the Jew calls tzedaka --
"righteousness." It's what's right -- what has to be -- no more and
no less. It's not something that I deserve a medal for. It's not a
"calling." It is a basic qualification of being human.
"You shall be glad with all the goodness that Hashem, your G-d, has
given you and your household -- you and the levite and the convert who
is in your midst."
Sometimes it seems as if selfishness has become a religion. And
ironically, the more proficient we become at being takers, the less it
makes us happy.
The words of this week's Torah reading come to remind us that we will
only "be glad with all the goodness" that G-d has given us if we
define our happiness in terms of being able to provide for the poor
and the helpless.
That's what it means "to be a mensch."
Source:
* Ba'al Haturim
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HAFTARA: Yeshaya 60:1- 22
In this, the sixth of the "seven haftarot of consolation," the Prophet
Yeshaya calls on Jerusalem to rise from the pain of darkness and to
shine to the world in full glory. The light of redemption, both
physical and spiritual, radiates on her. Her long-banished children
are returning, and in their wake are the nations of the world who have
acknowledged Hashem and that the Jewish People are His emissaries.
This redemption, unlike those that have preceded it, will be complete
and final. "Never again will your sun set, nor your moon be
withdrawn, for Hashem shall be unto you an eternal light, and ended
will be your days of mourning."
ANNUALS & PERENNIALS
"And your people, they are all righteous, forever shall they inherit
the Land, a branch of My planting..." (60:21)
People think reincarnation is an Eastern concept. It is a Middle-
Eastern one. One of Judaism's gifts to Eastern thought is
reincarnation. If a person doesn't follow the path that G-d indicates
in this world, his soul may return until he corrects his character
flaws. The above verse alludes to this process: "And your people are
all righteous..." The question arises: "They're all righteous? I
see many people who are a long way from being righteous!" To which
the next phrase answers -- "a branch of My planting" -- those who fail
to achieve righteousness will be "replanted" many times until their
good deeds finally come to fruition. Even the least righteous person
returns and returns to this world until he eventually becomes virtuous
and noble.
* Mahram Mizrachi in Mayana shel Torah
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LOVE OF THE LAND
Selections from classical Torah sources
which express the special relationship
between the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael
SEPHARDIC SYNAGOGUES OF OLD JERUSALEM
The few interconnecting Sephardic synagogues on Mishmerot Hakehuna
street right next to the Jewish Quarter parking lot certainly comprise
one of the Holy City's most famous landmarks. They were built below
street level because the Moslems who controlled the city at the time
had an injunction against Jewish or Christian buildings being higher
than Moslem ones in the area. The oldest of these synagogues -- the
Eliyahu Hanavi and Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai synagogues -- go back
over 400 years to the time when the Jewish community, evicted from its
previous home which became a mosque, established these places of
worship.
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Written and Compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair
General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman
Production Design: Michael Treblow
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